It was back in 2004 when Gabe, me and some of our friends visited Kingston for the first time. We spent the nights in a small guesthouse near Knutsford Blvd. I think it was in Holborn Rd to be exact but I can´t tell for sure.

When we returned to that guesthouse after going out to places like Asylum, every single night there was that noise that kept us from sleeping despite sunrise was near and Heineken had been plenty before. That noise came from a nearby police post where a group of officers spent their nightshifts playing dominoes. It was a mixture of the clicking and clacking of the domino tiles hitting the wooden domino table, the triumphant yelling of the winners and the angry cursing of the losers.

The same noise kept me from sleeping two years later when I was lying in my bed next to the parking lot in my Chancellor Hall block up at Mona campus. The clicking, the clacking, the cursing, the yelling. Evening for evening, night for night.

And the noise even followed us when we went to the country side after the semester was over.

Dominoes is everywhere in Jamaica. Like Reggae music it is an inherent part of social life in Jamaica.

What is it that makes this game so popular? While there are many answers to that question, I think these five are the most important: First of all, it is easy to understand as the rules and the objectives are clear. Secondly, despite its shallow simplicity, there is a broad variety in ways and strategies to play it. Thirdly, there is no denying the beauty of the standard equipment for a game of dominoes – the set of dominoes: the symmetric layout of the tiles, their simple shape, the way the inlaid pips reflect the light. Fourthly, the tiles just feel nice: their rounded edges fondling your palms when you rotate the them in your hands again and again. Fifthly, the fact that dominoes is a game that you play in the streets in order to enjoy it the most. You play it with your friends and you like it when passers-by watch you play.

Why am I telling this? I am telling this because these five reasons are the reasons why we love dominoes and why we chose to make a pair of dominoes one of the key visuals for the new seen. collection out soon. Dominoes for peace!